£333bn asset manager puts 50 UK jobs at risk amid transition to Aladdin

In recent years, many large asset managers have tried to build out their own portfolio management software systems, inspired by Blackrock's famous Aladdin platform. Janus Henderson, an asset manager with £333bn ($450bn) in AUM has decided it prefers the classics after working with one of the newer platforms. Some of its employees won't be happy about it.

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Janus Henderson is reportedly transitioning from State Street Alpha, a portfolio management and analytics platform first launched in 2019, to Aladdin. It is alleged that 50 people in Janus Henderson's UK back office team have been put at risk of termination (as is the process with layoffs in the UK) as part of this transition.

The firm has over 1,000 employees in EMEA, and hired 57 full-time employees in the region last year, according to its annual report. Janus Henderson declined to comment on the layoffs.

While the price of using either platform varies from firm to firm, Aladdin is thought to be significantly more expensive to set up due to its comprehensiveness, and can require dedicated specialist staff to implement and support. The people put on notice may be part of cost cuts to support those mounting expenses, or they might be pushed to transition into some of those Aladdin support roles. 

Janus Henderson currently has just two roles in London that mention Aladdin, however: a compliance analyst and an operations analyst.